Torque Performs a Miracle
-A few cycles ago Whirl was spending his time the way he normally does, wandering around, drinking bottom-shelf energon until he blacked out, picking fights, winning fights, occasionally losing fights, just regular Whirl stuff. Then he made the mistake of trying to get Blast Off to do something he didn't want to do and ended up with a bullet through the head. Although a kind medic was able to stabilize his systems and get him patched up, she was unable to replace and repair the optic he lost thus leaving him blind even now. This brings us to where Whirl is now. He had traveled a fair distance in his alternate mode seeking out the slim chance of regaining his eyesight. His original destination was the free clinic in Dead End where he had his last near death experience, but instead he finds himself in Kalis outside a small shop he had only heard about once before. Still in his alternate mode, Whirl's engines roar and whine, trying to make as much noise as possible to attract the attention of a certain mechanic. -It was interesting running a full time clinic. Sure, Torque will miss doing more mechanical work and painting the racers of Ibex, but she had to prepare for what was coming and make some sacrifices. And so far business has been steady now that she could accomidate more patients and hire on Suture full time. But today seems to be a slow period. At least until a big, noisy ruckus starts up outside. "Oi oi, what's goin' on here?" Torque opens the garage door to her shop and steps out, looking rather annoyed until she spots the copter sitting in the middle of the street. Optics narrow for a second before she raises a brow. "..Aren't you that mech from the Forge? What're you doing here?" -Finally! A response! Good thing too because Whirl would've kept this up until he ran out of fuel and went into stasis lock which, considering how long he's been traveling without a break, would've been sooner than later. The noisey aircraft cuts it's engines and transforms, revealing the cyclopean mech Torque guessed it would be except this time he can't even be accurately described as cyclopean because he appears to be missing his optic completely. This, and the fresh repairs all over his helm, become more obvious when Whirl approaches.. cautiously, carefully, claws extended outwards to feel around and keep him from smacking into anything. "Ha, you remember me! I'm a bit surprised, to be honest. I didn't think I made that big of an impression." He thinks he's talking to the femme but in actuality he's talking to a street lamp. "It's not easy to admit this, but I need your help. I don't have any money to pay you but.." He begins feeling up the lamp post with his pointy claws. "Maybe I can pay you in another way, hmmmm?"' -Torque just.. stares. It's not clear what she's feeling right now, though it could be some bizarre mix of confusion, horror, and a tinge of annoyance when she sees him groping the lamp post. Pulling herself back to reality once her mind has caught up, the femme sighs and shakes her head. "Y'don't have to pay me anything, I run a free clinic. Also I'm to your left." Stepping up, she carefully takes on of his claws in her hand and gives a little tug to guide him inside. "C'mon, lemme take a look at that. And no touching, got it?" Once they're inside, Torque has him sit on an unoccupied medical bench and finally gets a closer look at his empty socket. "What the slag even happened to you? Primus, I'm surprised they didn't hit your brain.." She frowns, all the while holding his head still with a gentle hand while peering in with a light and a magnifier. -"Hmmm?" Whirl snaps his head towards Torque's voice, arms still wrapped around the lamp post. "Oh, I uh, I knew that." No he didn't. The blinded mech is successfully guided inside the workshop thanks to the gentle tug on his claws and soon finds himself sitting on a berth, his head held in the mechanic's hand as she examines him. At least he assumes that's what she's doing, it's not like he can see her but it makes the most sense. As she peers inside the hole his optic used to sit in, she will no doubt notice that the wiring and mechanisms inside his head have been repaired for the most part. Still, it doesn't matter if the hook-ups are functional if there is no optic to operate. "A snobby space shuttle with an attitude problem happened," Whirl snorts, claws twitching as he recalls Blast Off staring down at him through the sights of his weapon. "I speak of Blast Off, of course. You've met him before, he was there in the Forge the same time I was." -Torque gives him a skeptical look that will likely go unnoticed. "Blast Off? Really? Huh.. I never figured the mech was capable of this sorta thing.. I thought he was just full of hot air." Leaning back now, she sets her tools down and rubs her chin. "Hm.. I can fit you with a new optic, but I don't usually stock them. Lemme see what I've got in the back, hold on." Torque leaves Whirl to wait as she sets off for the back room. It will be a while, but eventually she'll return with a small container in hand and a happy little smile on her face. "Lucky for you I've got at least two pairs left, and these ones look like they'll be big enough." Though he'll only need one, so she figures she can just hold onto the extra as a spare for him. "Now just lay back for me and I'll get started, alright? And make sure to hold still." -Whirl lets out a frustrated huff which is totally not a habit he picked up from being around Blast Off or anything. Other people can huff in frustration too! "Yeah, right? That's exactly what I was thinking. I mean, we've fought before and the best he's been able to do is shoot me in the leg." He gives the femme a shrug. "Guess he's not as pathetic as I thought." He gives Torque a nod when she tells him to hold on but by the time she comes back he's on the floor all the way on the other side of the room, no doubt having tripped and fallen over a bunch of stuff he couldn't see during his attempt to loot the place for illicit pharmaceuticals. Just because he can't see doesn't mean he's not going to try. "Ohh.. that didn't take nearly as long as I thought it was going to take." -Torque blinks blankly at the toppled mech. "..It's a wonder you haven't fallen down a hole yet, or something." With a soft sigh she sets the container down and steps over to him, grabs the mech under the collar of his armor, and hauls up his slender figure with ease onto the bench. "Look, I'm tryin' to help you out, alright? Don't go makin' a mess of things. Now lay back and lemme work." Once he complies, Torque will hook him up to a machine to keep track of his vitals before setting him up with some pain dampeners and taking up rather miniscule tools. "Now, while I'm making these connections I want you to lemme know if anything changes on your end, okay? Things might be a little off at first, but I'll readjust it until it's normal." Threading the cables from the bare optic into his empty socket, Torque begins the delicate procedure of making the connections between the two. It's not exactly a guessing game, but it's not impossible that his vision might come online in black and white or something. Also at a completely different angle since it's on the table next to him. -Whirl can't help but emit a surprised noise when he's grabbed and lifted back onto the berth like it was no big deal. It's a little embarassing, he doesn't remember the femme looking at strong as she did, but he was also kind of messed up when he last saw her so his memory may be a bit skewed. "Heheheh, sorry?" The mech lays back and allows Torque to hook up him up to her crazy vital-tracking machine and poke and pull at his eye socket with tiny tools. Even with the pain dampeners in place, it's still an uncomfortable and, frankly, bizarre feeling; it's not often things touch the inside of his head like this. As she works, his vision comes and goes, appearing slightly different each time. At first all he could see was shadows, then everything was blurry like he was finishing up a night of intense drinking. At one point everything comes in black and white, and occasionally black and green like a primitive computer screen. The more she tinkers with the optic, the closer he gets to regaining his vision so he does his best not to squirm or complain despite the discomfort. "I hope this isn't premature, but I wanted to say thanks for helping me. I've.. been going through a rough patch." Isn't his whole life a rough patch? "Wasn't sure I was ever going to get a new optic." -Torque doesn't know Whirl very well, honestly. True, his first impression at the Forge wasn't amazing, but that shouldn't dictate how she feels about him now. So instead of being gruff or unpleasant like others towards him, the femme instead shows kindness like she would any other patient. "Don't mention it." She replies with a soft smile, continuing to adjust with his direction. "S'what I'm here for, after all. Any mech or femme in need is welcome here for as long as I'm open. ...Alright, gonna make another few tweaks here and.. How's that? Any better?" With the final connection to the various optical wires made, the mech's monovision should be as it once was, if not slightly different from a completely different optic. -It's probably a good thing for Whirl that Torque doesn' know him very well. If she did, she'd know that he could be kind of a jerk and that getting shot in the head was mostly his fault; he did taunt the Combaticon into pulling the trigger afterall. The final connection is made and Whirl's vision immediately comes back on, much to his obvious delight. Head snaps back and forth, tilting up and down and everywhere inbetween to look at every single thing possible. "Hahahaha! YES! I CAN SEE!" He throws his arms up in the air and snaps his claws with a resounding CLANG. "This is amazing! For a while there I thought was going to be blind forever and I was trying to think of a good way to offline myself so I wouldn't be forced to live in such misery BUT THANK YOU, now I don't have to worry about it!" Eventually the mech settles down enough to give Torque his full attention. Like, literally, his full attention. He does nothing but stare at her intensely with that brand new optic she just put into his head. -Torque jerks back in surprise the moment the rest of the optic is installed firmly in his head, not expecting him to jump up like that. But at least he's satisfied, and for that she's glad. "Well ah.. Glad I could help prevent that." She rubs the back of her neck and smirks before disconnecting him from the monitoring machine. "Also glad I had what you needed in stock. And if that one gets damaged, I've got the other one as a backup." Turning now, Torque begins to put her tools away for sterilization later, but when she turns back all she sees is the mech staring straight at her. It's.. a little unsettling, to say the least. "Er.." She begins awkwardly, rubbing her neck again. "Just try not to strain it too much until it integrates with your systems. ...Was there anything else you need fixed?" -If Whirl was listening to anything Torque was saying, it doesn't show. That unsettling, unwavering stare of his remains locked onto her, refusing to falter in any way. Just to add to the weirdness of it all, he makes not a single sound; remaining entirely silent and just..... watching her. Closely. Very closely. After a painfully awkward amount of time later, the mechs optic seems to flicker ever so slightly and he finally breaks his silence. "No, I guess not." He slides off the berth, making like he's about to leave. "Oh, yeah, just so we're clear.. I'm going to come back here again. And again. And again. I get hurt a lot and I like the way you look so is it cool if I use you as my go-to mechanic from now on?" -Primus, this is weird.. This is so weird. Why does he keep staring?? Torque really isn't sure what else to do but stare back, albeit rather awkwardly and not always directly in the optic. There's just something so.. unsettling about it. Maybe it's the empurata? Or that he just has this weird vibe around him. Either way, the staring torture finally ends, much to Torque's relief, though she perks up at the question. "Me? Well, I.. I don't see why not, honestly. I might be moving to Rodion in the near future, but I'll let you know ahead of time. Glad the optic's working, by the way. Be careful out there, yeah?" With a soft smirk she offers a little wave to the gaunt mech as he makes his way out. This has seriously been a weird experience and she can only wonder what future encounters will be like.